This is an article from the Daily Record in Ellensburg September 17th by Stacey Engel which is a great summary of Grass fed versus Grain fed animals:

Grass versus corn matters to cow

Grass-fed, corn-fed, grainfinished…. does it really matter? For the cow it does.

Cows have an amazing ability to digest grass — a plant devoid of nutrition to humans — and turn it into protein. The reason cows can do this and humans cannot, is the difference in our digestive systems.

Cows — as well as goats, sheep, giraffes, bison, moose, elk, yaks, water buffalo, deer, camels, alpacas, llamas, and antelope — are ruminants which means they have a four-compartment stomach.

Ruminants digest plant-based food by initially processing it in the first compartment of the stomach with bacteria, then regurgitating the semi-digested food (known as cud) and chewing it again to further break down the plant matter. Sounds yummy!

Although the USDA grades corn-fed beef in its highest “Prime” category, corn is in no way a “prime” cuisine for cattle. Feeding corn to cattle is harmful to their health because as a ruminant they are not biologically designed to eat grain and therefore become extremely ill.

A ruminant’s stomach is intended to act as a fermentation tank for grass, but when fed corn the stomach’s lining develops a slime which keeps the gaseous byproduct from escaping. This causes the stomach to expand like a balloon, pressing on the cow’s heart and lungs, eventually suffocating the animal.

To combat a corn-fed cow’s ailments, which will imminently lead to death in approximately six months, ranchers feed them antibiotics. The effects of feeding antibiotics to animals, which ultimately are ingested by humans, is a whole other can of worms … or more appropriately ailments.

So the question arises, if ranchers know that corn is not ideal for cattle, in fact it is killing them, why would they continue feeding corn? Economics, of course.

Corn is the cheapest, most convenient feed to give cattle. In the United States, corn is cheaper to buy than to grow because the government provides subsidies to farmers — with your tax dollars — to grow corn at a loss. This surplus of corn on the market makes it an inexpensive feed choice for ranchers despite its ill-effects on the animal.

In addition, corn packs a punch in terms of food value. Cattle being raised on corn would be equivalent to humans living on ice cream.

After weaning, a cow will begin eating corn and grow astronomically from 80 pounds to 600 pounds within months. Sometimes even pasture-raised cattle are “grain-finished” to increase their marbling and gain some last minute weight before slaughter. Between its cheap cost and the quickly fattened calf, ranchers have begun to rely on corn as the main feed for cattle in the United States.

The introduction of corn into a cow’s diet has also reformed beef production. When cows were raised on pasture, feed lots didn’t exist. The stocking rate (number of animals per acre) of cattle can be drastically increased in a corn-fed versus grass-fed system.

Despite the animals’ poor diet, feed lots create an inhumane environment for cattle and threaten the health of other animals, humans, and nature... which is another article entirely.

The good news is that you can create healthy, happy cows in Ellensburg by supporting grass-fed beef production! There are numerous places you can purchase locally raised grass-fed beef including the Ellensburg Food Co-op, Kittitas County Farmer’s Market, localharvest. com, eatwild.com  , and occasionally craigslist.org.

Ask your local restaurant if they are buying grass-fed beef.

Stacey Engel operates Fuzzy Rhino Organic Farm in Ellensburg.